A War Without End or Oversight
An honorable president would have the gumption to veto bills he found objectionable. But as Americans have learned by now, there is no room for honor in President Bush’s Oval Office.
He prefers chicanery in the form of “signing statements.”
Prior to delivering the State of the Union Address on Monday, Bush eviscerated four key provisions of the new defense bill by saying he will ignore parts of the law he doesn’t like.
Bush finds objectionable provisions that:
* Forbid the United States from building a permanent military base in Iraq and controlling Iraq’s oil reserves.
* Create a wartime commission to investigate waste, fraud and abuse by military contractors and finally hold them accountable.
* Offer protection for employees of government contractors who expose wrongdoing.
* Require intelligence officers within 45 days to either respond or state why they will not produce documents requested by the Armed Services committees of Congress.
The Bush administration repeatedly has denied concerns that it seeks to create a permanent base in Iraq. But this signing statement and the president’s reluctance to bring before Congress a pact it is negotiating with Iraq regarding the presence of U.S. troops beyond 2008 indicate otherwise.
